


for worse or for better

by helahler



Category: Jessica Jones (TV)
Genre: Domesticity, F/F, Missing Scene, Pancakes, Post-Finale, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-02
Updated: 2015-12-02
Packaged: 2018-05-04 15:11:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5338691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helahler/pseuds/helahler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You know, it’s nice,” Trish murmurs, voice still rough with sleep. “For once I wake up and you’re still here.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	for worse or for better

It’s early. Can’t be later than six in the morning, but judging by the low and distant thrum of traffic, it’s probably more like four, maybe five.    
  
Trish groans and pulls the duvet over her a little more, covering up her cold shoulders and already beginning to slide back into the warmth of sleep as she rolls over onto her side-- straight into the person lying in her bed. There’s a moment of blind panic - she hasn’t let anyone into her bed, not since--    
  
A soft snore cuts off that train of thought; the noise itself is unfamiliar, but Trish opens her eyes and looks, focuses on the soft lines of Jessica’s face and the slight frown, there even in sleep, that Trish wishes she had to the power to wipe away.  
  
After a long moment, Trish looks away and turns to roll onto her other side, moving back, a little, from where their bodies are pressed together. It’s not even close to being cold in the room, but it is maybe a little cool, which must be the reason why, after a few seconds, Jessica shuffles closer again, bringing an arm up to curl over Trish’s belly, palm warm through the fabric of her pyjama top.  
  
Trish closes her eyes and settles her head into the pillow, drifting back to sleep to the sound of Jess breathing slow and even beside her.  
  
                                                                                                               -----

Time passes. The next time Trish drifts awake the light filtering into the room is warmer, brighter: nearly midday. She can’t remember the last time she slept in so late. The fact that it feels so good helps to quash the small guilty thought about taking a few days off work; guilt that used to cripple her, used to make her push herself past her limits.

She pushes those thoughts away, blinking the sleep out of her eyes and pushing the duvet down a little - the bed's a little too warm - and realising with a jolt that she can still feel Jess behind her, which means--

It’s the lingering exhaustion that makes her more honest than she means to be - or maybe it’s because of the faint sense-memory washing over her, of the times they did this years ago, trapped in that house with only each other to reach for. Not that it happened more than a few times; they’d both been stubborn, each still learning the other’s language, and then they got away from that house, and grew up, and it stopped happening.    

“You know, it’s nice,” Trish murmurs, voice still rough with sleep. “For once I wake up and you’re still here.”

It’s the wrong thing to say, because Jess is awake and stiffening beside her, murmuring a low, “Sorry,” already pulling away.  

“Wait, Jess,” says Trish, sitting up and stopping her with a hand over where Jess is reaching for her jeans. “At least stay for breakfast.”

Jess makes a noncommittal noise, sliding her feet into her jeans and pulling them up as she stands.

“Come on,” Trish says coaxingly, getting up and sliding on her silk robe as she follows Jess out of the bedroom, “I’ll make pancakes.”

“If by make, you mean ‘take out the packet and heat up’.” Jess sits herself down on the sofa, boots in hand.  

“Hey, I’m a great cook,” Trish starts; Jess’s withering stare cuts her short, “okay, fine, you got me.”

She moves to the fridge, gets out the packet and the various toppings: fruit, chocolate syrup, maple syrup, whipped cream, the works; she’d been looking forward to this morning -- regardless of  the possibility of Jess actually being here -- for a while, and if she’d bought the specific brand of chocolate syrup specifically because she remembered Jess liking it as a kid, well, no one can prove it. And if she feels a small burst of gratification when she sees Jess stop lacing her boots to eye the syrup in her hand, well, no one can prove that either.

“So is that a no, then?” Trish nudges.  

“Don’t you have work today?” Jess says by way of reply, but she eases her boots off again and moves over to the kitchen island.

“I took a few days off. Needed a break, after-- everything. In there,” Trish nods to the cupboard next to her, cutting Jess’s search for plates and bowls short as she slides the first pancake into the pan to get it warmed up. “What about you? Busy day?”

“Maybe,” Jess replies, sitting at the freshly-laid counter and flicking through her phone. “Malcolm sent me the details of some new cases. Might check it out later.”

“Anything from Luke?”

“I think me shooting him in the face might’ve, y’know, burned that bridge.”

“I’m sorry,” Trish says, and slides a pancake - decorated with a chocolate syrup-drawn smiley face - onto Jess’s plate in consolation.

“Thanks,” says Jess, looking up and smiling in a way that Trish hasn’t seen in a long time, too long; that crooked smile that after all these years Trish knows better than the back of her hand; that Trish understands to mean: _I’m glad you’re here. I’m glad I’m here with you._

Trish sits, eats her own pancake, and smiles back. _Me too._

END 

**Author's Note:**

> title from how you get the girl by taylor swift. i listened to [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjpc9KE-kW0) and [this](http://neenaroo.tumblr.com/post/114693092367/orhgasm-taylor-swift-tove-lo-habits-vs-how) on repeat while writing. 
> 
> feedback/comments super appreciated; this is the first thing i've liked enough to post in -- two years, ugh. trying to work past the weird guilt/anxiety of posting something with such a low word count; then i re-read [ this ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2072406?view_full_work=true) by [ tigrrmilk](http://archiveofourown.org/users/tigrrmilk/pseuds/tigrrmilk) , one of my all-time fave writers, who manages to capture a lot with few words -- not that i'm trying/even capable of writing to that level, but it really helped, + i'd def rec her work if you haven't read it before. 
> 
> anyway: love this show. love these two. love luke, love malcolm. more to come on them, maybe.
> 
> come pester me on [tumblr!](http://helahler.tumblr.com/) ([formerly](http://neenaroo.tumblr.com))


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